Rochester Hills unanimously adopts budget

For the second consecutive year, the Rochester Hills City Council approved the city’s yearly budget in a unanimous vote.
That’s also only the second time since 1991 the council unanimously approved a budget, said Mayor Bryan Barnett.
The council approved the $117.5 million budget Monday for the 2013-2014 fiscal year, including $13.6 million in capital projects, up about $705,000, or 0.6 percent from last year’s amended budget. The city projected to bring in $109 million in revenue, with roughly $8.5 million used from the general fund balance for capital projects.
The city’s fiscal year begins Jan. 1, 2014.
The proposed city tax rate is 9.7 mills — same as last year’s — and the lowest in Oakland County, the city said.
No fund balance, essentially the city’s savings account, is expected to be used for city operations.
Rochester Hills uses a three-year budget to forecast revenue and expenditure projections.
The city’s revenues ticked up thanks to an increase in property tax revenues, state shared revenue and building permits.
But even though the city’s financial outlook appears to be on an upward trend, councilmembers spoke in favor of maintaining a fiscally conservative approach to the budget in the coming years.
“Now that we got a little wiggle room, we’re doing all the right things and we need to keep doing them in moderation,” Councilman James Rosen said before the vote.
He said, the city needs to have “solid restraint, (and) spend money on the right stuff and we’ll come out of this really good.”

About the Author

Ryan Felton is a staff writer at The Oakland Press who covers Rochester, Rochester Hills, Oakland Township, transportation and technology. Blogging about Detroit at detroit.jalopnik.com. Reach the author at ryan.felton@oakpress.com
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